Reform attracted controversy recently after it conducted a prize giveaway. This upset people for a couple of reasons: the first was that Nigel Farage’s motley crew are supposed to be a political party, not a daytime TV show. The second was that the two winners had a historic connection to Nigel Farage.

The prize in question should have seen Reform paying the electric bill for everyone in the winners’ street for a year. Now, various residents have come forward to claim Farage is stiffing them:

This is just cruel. First you entice people to sign up for something they need to get their personal data and then you only reward those who are already your devoted fans. https://t.co/tWKq40NsaK pic.twitter.com/MsYOYHdIZo

— Stella Tsantekidou (@Stsantek) April 19, 2026

Stiffed by Reform

Obviously the purpose of all this was to grab headlines and make it look like Reform are the anti-nasty party. Odd, then, that they’d decide to leave out some households. This was always going to generate negative press, and now here we are.

This is what widow Angie Ecclestone told reporters:

I thought to myself I’ll believe it when I see it but I didn’t realise I had been excluded and that my neighbours had all received a letter and instructions.

Nigel Farage said the whole street [would be included] but we haven’t heard anything. I am in shock. I am the first house on St Malo Road. It’s the whole street or not the street. I am mortified.

Additionally:

My husband died in August last year and one of my kids has his GCSEs in three weeks.

I have the biggest house in the street. It’s five bedrooms. I pay £400 per month on energy. All the other houses are semi-detached but this one is fully detached. I am really up against it.

We’re unsure why the party decided to leave out Ecclestone, but it seems like they couldn’t have picked a worse person to screw over from a marketing perspective.

Obviously the human element should come before marketing, but let’s be real; Reform aren’t doing this because they’re caring human beings; they’re doing it because they want to look good in the papers.

It doesn’t end with Ecclestone either:

Nigel Farage promised to cover a “whole street’s” energy bills. Now, at least three households say they were excluded and haven’t received a penny. Including the first house of the street.

— Mukhtar (@I_amMukhtar) April 19, 2026

“Absolutely not a Reform fan”

Fraser Hayes is another of the un-rewarded neighbours. In his own words:

I have no qualms about depriving Reform of the money and giving to a local kids’ charity or maybe even the Labour candidate.

[The stunt] is appalling. It’s obviously a data grab. They’re trying to get loads of people to write in and they ask, ‘Who did you vote for last time. Who will you vote for this time?’

I am absolutely not a Reform fan and I am appalled that anyone is.

Did Farage leave Hayes out because he can’t stand them?

And if so, would it not have been smarter to just give him the juice and avoid the bad press?

The third resident is Matt Johnson, who said:

We thought we would hear something from Reform by email or post but at the moment we haven’t heard anything.

I mean if Reform said at the time it would be the whole street, then we feel like we should be included in that.

Our energy bills keep going up and down but they are around £3,500 a year. Having them paid for would make a huge difference.

What we’re seeing here is what the UK will be like under a Reform government.

Farage’s party will sweep in on a wave of big promises, but nothing will happen, and they’ll ignore anyone asking ‘what gives?‘

Thinking ahead

Looking at St Malo Road on Google Maps, there seems to be about 18 properties. You have to wonder what would have happened if the winner lived on a street with some hundred or so detached houses. Would Reform really have paid for every one of them?

We imagine it didn’t consider that, because they don’t seem to have considered anything.

For more on Farage’s party’s chaotic local election campaign, check out the following:

• Reform activist said ‘Hitler was right’.
• Reform candidate wants to ‘tear down’ the NHS.
• Reform UK accused of ‘nil vetting’ as another racist candidate exposed.
• Reform welcome candidate who thanked Putin.
• Day One Reform activist accuses party of ‘sewer’ politics in explosive resignation letter.
• Farage heckled at Reform’s Jimmy Saville-aping London launch.
• Video emerges of Reform’s ‘Nazi salute’ candidate drink driving.

Featured image via The Canary

By Willem Moore

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